US State Secretary John Kerry meets Kazakh President and PM

President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev has met with the US Secretary of State John Kerry in Akorda residence, Tengrinews reports citing the presidential press service. US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived for the first time in Astana as part of his official tour of five Central Asian countries - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

"Recently in New York, I met with US President Barack Obama; we discussed bilateral cooperation. From the first days of independence of our country that will turn 24 years old in December, we have been cooperating with the United States, and the people of Kazakhstan are grateful for your continuous support of our sovereignty and economic development. Today there are about 500 companies with American capital in our country. We are committed to continuing this work,” Nazarbayev said during the meeting.

Nursultan Nazarbayev emphasized that Kazakhstan and the United States also cooperated in nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, and expressed support to the initiatives of the US President in these realms.

John Kerry replied that he highly appreciated the results of the negotiations Nursultan Nazarbayev and Barack Obama had in New York to discuss nuclear non-proliferation, combating armed extremism, the situation in Afghanistan and the fight against IS militants. US Secretary of State expressed confidence that close partnership between Kazakhstan and the United States would facilitate the implementation of five major institutional reforms and the Plan of the Nation: 100 Concrete Steps.

As part of his trip to Kazakhstan, US Secretary John Kerry had a working breakfast with Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Karim Massimov. During the meeting, they discussed a wide range of issues related to Kazakh-American cooperation and exchanged views on the international agenda. Then, according to the press service of the US State Department, Kerry and Massimov met with members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kazakhstan.

"The United States is indeed one of the major investors in Kazakhstan. Today, I met with representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kazakhstan, and they expressed their satisfaction with the progress they made in your country," Kerry said during the meeting with Nazarbayev.

Kerry spoke to the executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kazakhstan, Doris Bradbury, and other officials during his working lunch with the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov at Rixos hotel in Astana," the US State Department said on Twitter.

Before arriving in Astana, the US Secretary of State also visited Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. After that he went to Uzbekistan, where he participated in the meeting of the foreign ministers of Central Asian countries and held talks with the Uzbek President Islam Karimov in Samarkand. It is planned that in Astana John Kerry would also participate in the meeting of the Commission on Strategic Partnership, and later deliver a speech at the Nazarbayev University.

By Indira Urazova, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina